


All In The Value (under construction cus its cringey lol)

by johnshotmom, rololonde



Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures
Genre: Abusive Bro, Aradia can see ghosts 0u0, Calliope has cancer, Clusterfuck of a fanfic, Dave has PTSD, F/F, F/M, Graphic Violence, Humanstuck, M/M, another dumb highschool au, gay af, mentions of abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-30
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-08-27 17:30:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8410348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/johnshotmom/pseuds/johnshotmom, https://archiveofourown.org/users/rololonde/pseuds/rololonde
Summary: Your name is John Egbert and today is one of the worst days of your life.“I am so, so proud of you, Son”. Every single time he left the house or did anything really, he would repeat that one sentence. It’s weird how one mundane sentence would be the last you ever heard from him. After the call, you didn’t know what to do. In that one instant, all you could do was blame yourself, even though you knew it could never be your fault. 
 
(If we don't update for a little while, don't worry we're not dead we're just lazy af and hugeee procrastinators ;P)





	1. Amongst other things

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you like this cliche-clusterfuck of a fanfic lmao you probably won't but at least give it a chance?
> 
> p.s  
> If there are any spelling mistakes or wtv pls tell us :))
> 
> p.p.s 
> 
> we're from australia so we don't actually know what texas is like so shhhhh  
> ignore the massive plotholes

== > Be John

Your name is John Egbert and today is one of the worst days of your life.  

“I am so, so proud of you, Son”. Every single time he left the house or did anything really, he would repeat that one sentence. It’s weird how one mundane sentence would be the last you ever heard from him. After the call, you didn’t know what to do. In that one instant, all you could do was blame yourself, even though you knew it could never be your fault. Drops of rain fall down and hit your black attire, leaving dark marks that soon cover your whole outfit. _How cliché, it’s raining._ You chuckle to yourself, but your throat is dry and you only manage a small cough. _Oh god, why did it have to be like this?_ You hear Adults whispering and can’t help but listen in to their conversation. “No, you take him’” one says to the other.

“I can’t, I've already got five kids to deal with, give him to someone else” They reply.

“The Maryams?”

“No! They might contaminate him!” 

You sigh. _Can’t they just wait until after the funeral?_ A young, fashionable dark haired woman joins in on their conversation. “We can take him". The other adults look embarrassed and surprised to see that she was listening. “It would be good for Karkat to have someone to look up to, seeing as his older brother doesn't come home much”.

“Ah, um” the adults stutter and look anxiously at each other, making small glances at you and then at the woman.

“Like you said, no-one else can take him and we _are_ his godparents after all” the intimidating woman glared at the other adults as they tried their best to keep their composure.

“Kanaya, dear, it looks as though you have made them apprehensive”. A pale light haired woman places her arm around the woman's waist and tries her best to keep calm. Her hair looks almost white under the faint sunlight. You recognise her to be Rose Lalonde. Rose was a close friend of your fathers. You only met her once, but from what you have heard from your father, you know that she can be very nice and helpful, when you get past her snarky exterior. The faces of the other adults turn crimson as they start angrily retorting at Rose and the other woman that you now know to be Kanaya. Their silent bickering slowly builds up to loud yelling and their sentences become more and more incoherent. You only make out one sentence from their unclear shouting.

“You can't raise a proper child, Faggots!” You see them flinch at that response and open their mouths to retaliate. You clench your fists, you can't take this anymore...

“SHUT UP! This is a funeral, not an auction!” They look at you slightly startled and restrain from saying anything else. Tears threaten to spill from your eyes but they never do. “Can you stop bickering and just let me mourn? ...Please?” The adults start apologising and disperse, leaving you to sit silently at your father's grave. You keep staring at the grave but the tears don't come. 

~

In the end, you were left to the Maryams care. You stare out the car window as a plethora of coloured vehicles whizz past. It’s tediously silent other than the quiet hum of the car and the Maryams hushed whispers. You try listening closely (which is actually pretty nosey of you now that you think about it.) “Who would have known that his siblings would be so cruel? I mean, honestly, who in their right mind argues during a funeral?”.

“That is quite contradictive of you to say, Kanaya”.

“Well...I...hm’ she huffs out a sigh of defeat. "I guess that is true”. Kanaya pouts. “Although, they did start it” she continues.

Rose quietly chuckles. “Well, now you just sound like a five-year-old”.

You feel as though you should probably stop listening in on their conversation now. You glance over to your side and your eyes focus on a small hostile looking boy with fiery red hair. You then notice the sweater he is wearing and chuckle a bit louder than you intended. His sweater read “holy crab!” and had a charming cartoon crab with a halo above its head, for some reason you found it hilarious. He immediately shoots you a death glare. “What in blithering seed flap humping hell are you laughing about?” His furious outburst makes you gush into an even more uncontrollable loud fit of laughter. “Your obnoxious laughter is making me go deaf, do you ever shut up?” He snarls and you see his eyes fill with rage. He has such a short temper. His small, cute stature with a face that screams pure hatred makes you want to laugh even more. Struggling to keep back hysterical giggling you manage to get out a small sentence.

“Pfft Kitkat was it? I’m John”. Your struggles are to no avail as you immediately turn into a giggling mess. You hold out your hand in a friendly manner.

“It’s Karkat you nooksucking asswipe” He grunts seeming to have recognised your joking tone and ignores your outstretched hand.

“Hehe, okay Karkat” You flash a grin at the irritated kid and let your arm fall lazily at your side. He smiles sarcastically.”You’re really fucking annoying you know that, right?” 

“KARKAT!” Kanaya turns around and furrows her brows at him. Her emerald eyes pierce holes in his flesh. “Do you want me to stop this car and call Kankri?”. You see Karkat's eyes widen in absolute terror.

“No! Please no! For the ever loving wrath of god, please don’t call him!” You wonder who Kankri is and why Karkat is so horrified at the thought of talking to him.

“Who’s Kankri?” You look questioningly at them. Karkat pulls a face of utter revulsion and Kanaya frowns at him.

“He’s Karkat’s brother” Rose replies, her voice indifferent.

“Oh...um, ok” You’re still confused but decide not to elaborate on the (vaguely touchy?) subject ( _At least from Karkat's reaction it seems like it is)_ and let your eyes wander to the brightly coloured vehicles that pass you. The rest of the ride is uneventful and falls back into the familiar yet unbearable silence, letting your mind drift. 

~ 

You look up to the large double storey house dumbstruck as your mouth hangs wide open. Elevated trees encompass the extensive homestead and modern exterior. Karkat’s obnoxious grumbling beside you shatters your transfixed stare and you see Kanaya affectionately fussing over him as he struggles to push away from her. The two appear quite endearing and you find yourself chuckling at their amusing antics. Rose unlocks the door and suggests that everyone should come inside. Kanaya offers to help you with your bags but you happily shrug her off, you can do it yourself. You stride over to the trunk of the car and grab your bags. Struggling with their weight you manage to haul your overflowing bags up to the edge of the stairs inside the house.   

You take a deep breath and wipe a bead of sweat from your forehead. Ok, maybe you did need her help... Oh well, too late now. You don't want to overburden them, they seem like very nice people... well maybe not Karkat as much. “Uh, so, mom told me to help you with your bags” Karkat rubs his neck and begrudgingly picks up the smallest bag and takes it upstairs to your room. You're surprised by his sudden movement but follow after him, relieved that you don’t have to carry the extra weight. Karkat sets the bag next to the bed and you do the same with the others. Karkat stands awkwardly in the room for a second then staggers out the bedroom door. That was nice of him...you guess? You yawn exhaustively and lie on the bed. You really wish your dad was here with you now.

==>  Be Dave        

  
You’d think that after the 3 years you’ve been at this shitty school you’d at least have found some decent people to be “friends” with, but you guess the weird silent kid who wears dumb anime shades all the time isn’t exactly everyone’s top pick on the metaphorical ‘Who I would rather spend my time with’ list. You're okay with that, though.  
  
You feel the cold familiar concrete wall flat against your back as you slide down and sit cross-legged on the floor. You always stay outside during lunch period, It's the only place you're not bombarded with hostile stares and it seems that the “cliche” sit outside under a tree isn’t an option at your school and you're not gonna stick with latter of eating in the bathroom. That shit’s nasty, you ain’t no indecent motherfucker. Your bro made sure he raised you right, not to be some goddamn nerd that recedes out the fucking bathroom stall. Striders have pride, a status to uphold. Well, actually it's not like you have much status to uphold in the first place but… What the hell are you talking about? Of fucking course you do. You’re cool as shit. People be like, “Is it just me or is global warming is making winter colder?” And you’ll be like no bitch, it’s just me. Your coolness is spreading too fucking fast and soon even the goddamn polar bears will be freezing to death. Fuck, you’re rambling again.

Just as you go to pry yourself away from your internal monologue, you hear the bell sounding the end of lunch.  
Well, shit.

You didn’t even eat anything.

==> Be John                      

The front gates loom over you. After a week or so of living with the Maryams, Kanaya and Rose decided it would be good for you to go to the local school. You were a little opposed to the idea at first but they assured you that Karkat would be there to get you situated. Of course moments after, Karkat kindly reminded you to “Stay the fuck away from me and my friends”. In which, you Immediately took mind to definitely make sure you to do the exact opposite. Just thinking about how pissed off he will be raises your prankster’s gambit! You kinda wanna see how differently he acts at school, but mostly you just really want to embarrass him in front his friends. 

You hesitantly walk forward. _No going back now._ As dumb as it sounds you’re actually pretty nervous. As you make your way into the school you’re already met with a few curious stares. You really hope you make friends here. You didn’t really have many close friends at your old school, but you did try your best to talk with almost everyone. The only people you were really that close with were Jade and Calliope. Well, you guess technically Jade doesn't really count since she’s your cousin. Calliope was a different matter… You mostly talked to her during class (as she was in most of the ones you took) and on pesterchum. You also used to eat lunch with her and jade, but she didn’t really talk much. But that's okay since jade talked enough for the three of you. You still talk to jade on pesterchum and have tried to talk to Calliope but she hasn’t been responding lately. Jade said that she hasn’t seen her around school either. You hope she’s okay.

“Argh!” An embarrassing noise escapes your lips. 

“Shit dude, you okay?” a head pops out from behind the locker door that you had just rammed your head into, while you were lost in your thoughts. You should have been paying more attention. You look up to see a light haired guy in… triangular shades? you don’t even know what to call them. His hair is so… white. He gives you an expectant look then realises that you’re probably not going to respond and when he assesses that you’re okay he gradually returns to what he was doing. Scrambling up to your feet you try to walk away as though nothing had happened. _Welp, you guess that wasn't really what you had planned as being everyone's first impression of you._ Oh, well. You guess it could have gone worse.

~ 

You walk into your first class _Just_ in time. Man.. You didn’t think you would make it!

You head over to an empty seat with some harry potter knockoff, the only difference being the purple streak in his hair. He seems occupied with the person next to him, who looks like they are trying their absolute best to ignore him. Once you sit down he immediately turns to you. He glances at you and jumps up in sudden realisation.

“Hey! Aren't you that one guy wwho face planted into coolguy wwannabe’s locker? That wwas fuckin hilarious”. You notice a slight stutter when he pronounces w.

“Eridan thit the fuck down, you’re embarrathing yourthelf” The guy next to him seems to have stopped ignoring him and tugs him down onto his chair. While Eridan was standing up you got a better look at the guy next to him. He seemed to be wearing a pair of red and blue 3D glasses? _How does he even see out of those? Is it a Fashion statement?_ You have no idea. The people at this school are... _Interesting,_ to say the least. You suddenly remember that he asked you a question. 

“Uh, yeah… news travels fast eh?”

 He sniggers. “No, i wwas just wwalkin’ by wwhile it happened. You’re neww here right? I don't think I’vve seen you around before”.

“Yup! I'm John by the way” You smile enthusiastically.

“Wwell, I’m Eridan, as youvve heard and this dickwwad is Sollux” Eridan points to the guy sitting beside him. 

You pause, not really sure what to say next “Oh yeah, Coolguy wannabe? What’s with the nickname?”

 “Him? He’s a fuckin douche. Don’t be too concerned wwith that guy. I call him that cause he thinks he's so cool wwith his dumb fuckin shades, but really evveryone knowws he's an asshole”. 

“Bold wordth coming from you”. 

“Oh shut up, or should I say thut up”.

“Ha ha, ath if I haven’t heard that a million timeth already, why don’t I go fuckall with your thpeech impairment. Or thhould I thay, wwhy don’t I go fuckall wwith your thpeech impairment”. Sollux puts extra emphasis on the stutter at the W’s.

You try to puncture the tension between them. “Why is um.. coolguy wannabe an asshole exactly?”

Eridan turns his attention to you. “Wwhere do I start? He’s pretentious as hell and acts like he’s too cool to talk to anybody. Another big sign is that he doesn’t havve any friends. None. I swwear if that doesn’t scream asshole, i don’t knoww wwhat does”. 

“Are you sure he's not just shy? Has anyone tried talking to him?”

“Are you fuckin wwith me? Of course at least someone's tried talking to him. Not me obvviously, but people havve and wwell... I’vve heard it doesn’t go that great”.

“What? how?”

“You sure ask a lot of questions, don’t you? Wwhat i mean is that he literally doesn't respond at all. They try to talk to him and as soon as any kind of convversation almost starts, it fizzles out straight awway”.

Even though Eridan insists that you probably shouldn’t have anything to do with him, it kinda just makes you wanna talk to him even more. You suddenly realise that the teacher is writing formulas. As you try to figure out what the hell the disfigured language is on the board your realise it's just really blurry. Shit... where did you put your glasses?

~~== > Be the Insufferable Prick~~

==> Be Dave

What the fuck? You hear a loud bang and feel a force being thrown into your locker. Peeking out behind it there's a… Guy? What? He's sprawled out across the ground. “Shit dude, you okay?”.  He just looks up and stares at you for like a minute. Or at least it felt like a minute. You look expectantly for him to answer you but seeing as he's just transfixed in his own goddamn fairyland you go back to what you were doing.  What a weird guy. Looking down you see a pair of black framed glasses on the ground. You look around but see him nowhere. Was he wearing these? Goddamn it, you’re gonna have to give them back aren’t you? How can someone be so stupid to forget their fucking glasses? Someone who rams their actual fucking head into lockers is who. 

~ 

You stare out the window, bored as hell. You can’t even concentrate with how hot it is in this fucking room. Despite how long you've been living in texas, which is basically your whole life, you still don't think you’ll ever get used to the heat. In Texas, there are two seasons, the firey pits of deaths asshole and cold as fuck. Right now, its definitely the flaming asshole. You try fanning yourself with your hand but that only makes you feel even hotter. Why the hell did they have to put you in the only class that doesn't have air conditioning? _How the fuck does the school get away with this shit?_ It's what? 90 something degrees outside? That's like, downright fucking illegal. Like, so fucking illegal there should be police smashing the windows of this metaphorical car. The babys all bawling his fucking eyes out and shit. It’s hard as fuck to look at and everyone's wondering where his parents are at. Except in this scenario, You’re the baby and ain’t nobody gonna smash this window and save you from your misery.  

“Today Class, we will be starting on a group project…” _shit not one of these again._ _Pleasepickthegroupspleasepickgroupspleasepickthegroups_ “Don’t worry, I’ll be picking the groups today” the other students groan in complaint while you're busy having a small victory party in your head. _Thank fucking god._ The usual _wait till everyone already has a group then ask the teacher_ is pretty fucking tiring and you’re pretty sure it annoys the fuck out of the teacher as well. You kinda tune out the rest of the class while your group awkwardly shuffles towards you. You don’t really bother joining in on the conversation and the rest of the group doesn’t try talking to you either. You listen in to what they are doing to get an idea of what you have to do (pretty much whatever they’re not doing). Normally you just do whatever part you can by yourself at home since you have literally nothing to do in your almost empty apartment. The only actual things you do in your spare time is take photos around the city and mix songs with your turntables, but doing the same two things over and over again, no matter how much you love it, can get pretty boring. You used to play co-op video games with your brother but, you kinda forced him to go to college. After the _incident,_ Dirk had to stop going to school and work to pay for your living expenses. You didn’t think that was fair to him though. You told him you were old enough to pay for your own shit but he only agreed for you to pay for everything other than rent and the bills. The bastard. Before he went he made sure that you got a part-time job and that was that. The only time you really hear from him now is when he calls to make sure you’re not dead. You kinda miss him. Not that you’d ever tell him that. It’s just with literally zero human interaction everyday, a person can grow pretty fucking bat shit insane. Not that you're going crazy. Maybe you are, but that's not the point. You don’t want to worry your brother.

==>  Be John

Eridan leads you to the Cafeteria. The room is packed with students. Pushing your way through, you spot someone waving to Eridan and Sollux. You walk idly behind them smiling at their group of friends. “Hi Sollux! Hi Erifin!” _Erifin?_ A chirpy girl with a very large mass of voluminous hair brings them in for a tight hug. She glances over to you then looks back to them. “Who’s the new guy?” 

“Oh, my name’s John” You smile back at her. Beaming she tells you that her name is Feferi and that the three of you to come sit with them. You sit down next to a girl with mostly bleached blond hair other than a faded blue streak. She moves over slightly to make room for you. Smiling you outstretch your hand. “Hi! I’m John”.  

“I heard” she flashes a toothy grin and shakes your hand. “Name’s Vriska, but you can call me whatever you like”. She winks. 

“Heheh, okay Vriska” You feel heat rise to your cheeks.

“The scrawny one over there in a wheelchair is Tavros, the one with an eerie grin next to me is Aradia and I’m assuming you’ve already met the other three”. She points to a small built guy with pushed back mohawk and a girl with frizzy dark brown hair and a light brown complexion. All of a sudden, you feel really cold. Which is weird because it was actually pretty hot just a moment ago. Aradia stares intently in your direction and grins even wider than before 

“There's a man behind you”.  You whip your head around to see… to see...Nothing? uh… what? You give a really confused look.

“Aradia, stop creeping out the new kid! Don’t worry about what she said. She's a bit…” She pauses and twirls her finger in a circular motion to the side of her head. “Ya know”. 

“uhh, yeah i get what you mean” you reply, still feeling the slight breeze that seems to be coming from nowhere. 

“So… what brings you to texas?” 

A large lump forms in your throat. You don’t want to think about it today. You feel your smile falter but fix it before you think she noticed. You look at her hesitant to speak. “Not much, something happened so I'm just staying with my godparents. Not that big a deal or anything” Your voice breaks a little bit at the end but you really hope she didn't notice. You don’t want worry someone you’ve just met. 

“Touchy subject?” She questions your pause.

“Heheh… Yeah, kinda” you say avoiding her eyes. She tries changing the subject. 

“Anywayssssssss, Because you’re new here, i feel as though it's my job to be your escort!” she exclaims as a matter of fact. You snigger.

‘Not _that_ kind of escort, you perv” she smirks and rolls her eyes. “continuing my previous sentence before you ever so rudely interrupted, as you can obviously tell I am definitely the best candidate to show you around, unlike these dorks”.

“You make it sound like you're running for student body president or something”. 

She pokes her tongue out at you playfully. “Again with the interruptions John, this isn't a very good first impression. You don't want people to think you're a loser on your first day now, do you? especially in front of such an attractive and intelligent girl like me. You’ll soon find out which people are better than others. You don't want to go and make friends with the wrong sort. I can help you out there”. 

‘Do i sense a harry potter reference?” 

“Shut up, that’s beside the point. The point is, i know everything and you're stupid. Now, time to educate you on what you need to know. Firstly and most importantly, absolutely everyone in this school, but you and I, are total losers. All of them!”

“Oh lucky uth, it'th time for another one of Vriska'th totally bullthit ranth about why everyone thuckth but her”. 

“Cut the crap sollux, you know you love em” She grins at him and then looks back to you. “Seriously though, everyone's so uptight. No-one knows how to have a good time, ya know? I feel like you’re different john”. 

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“I dunno, you just have that vibe. Even though you’re not even close to being a winner like me, i think you have the potential”.

You're not really sure what to think of that. “That's, uh… nice i guess?” She then continues to rant on about who you should and who you shouldn't hang out with. You let your eyes wander around the room until you spot a familiar set of pointy shades. You should probably ask him if he's seen your glasses, Assuming that you dropped them when you rammed your head into his locker… yeah. You’re currently trying to forget that ever actually happened, but so far you don’t think you’ll be able to. You continue watching him until he walks out of the cafeteria doors. _Where is he going?_ For some indistinguishable reason, you feel the need to follow him. Which actually sounds creepier than your initial intention, but you do need to get your glasses back. You need those! You silently contemplate this, completely oblivious to Vriska’s attempts to get your undivided attention until finally, she proceeds to loudly yell in your left ear.

“Hey! Are you even listening?’

“Oh, uh yeah” 

‘Sure you are. Explain why I've literally been trying to get your attention for like 10 minutes then!” She gives an exasperated look. 

“Err..”

“Whatever. Me and the others were thinking of going to the Felt diner after school. You wanna come?” 

“Yeah sure, I just gotta ask my…” _I guess they’re my parents now._ “Parents?”

She questions your pause with an interrogating gaze. “cool then”.

~ 

The diner looks obnoxiously green. Nearly every single wall and thing in and out of the diner are least some shade of the colour. It almost scares you how this place even gets any customers with its monochromatic colour scheme. Man this place is weird. ‘Whats with all the green?”

Vriska pauses in thought. “Um, To be honest, i actually have no idea. Maybe they like the colour green? The owner of this place is eccentric, to say the least” As you group together around a table you are bombarded with more green. This is ridiculous. When you are seated, your newly found friends start to talk about some school shit and random inside jokes that go way over your head. It makes it sorta hard to join the conversation so you just sorta sit there in silence looking blankly. God, you feel really awkward. Suddenly a waitress comes in with the orders you don’t even remember asking for and everyone starts eating. Apparently, you ordered some fries? they taste good so, you guess that's all that matters. You try listening on into the current conversations again and see that they seem to be talking about grandfather clocks now? Wait what?

“Dude the clock ith tho fucking beat up I bet you ten buckth he got it from on the thide of the road or thome dumb thhit like that”

“I bet he killed someone for it” Aradia seems contented with her idea.

“Wow aa fucking dramatic much jutht for a clock” 

“I like where Aradia's coming from, I mean you can't tell me those aren't bullet holes”. Vriska points to a battered up grandfather clock barely hidden in the corner. 

“Even tho, how do you know he made them? He could've juth brought it like that”.

“Wwhy wwould he buy a broken clock?”

“I don't fucking know, maybe he jutht liketh the aththetic of broken fucking clockth!”

“mmmmNo needs a better story than that, it needs more action, romance, and whatever else is normally in a story. It needs to be interesting”.

“What the fuck vrithka, am I the only one who thought we were talking about real life cauthe I don't give a fuck about the dreamland you theem to live in”.

“Ok shut up, shut all of your blabbers, I've got it. Listen to me. I think that…” She stops mid sentence as Sollux opens his “blabber”.

“I’m going to thtop you right there before you nearly bore everyone to death, I’m not lithening to another of your ‘Thuper interethting thtories about what actually happened, even though itth thuper unrealithtic ath fuck’. Hell fucking no”.  Vriska is fuming and before she makes any brash actions you decide to speak up. 

“Why don’t you guys just ask him yourselves?” Almost all of them look at you like that's the dumbest thing anyone could have ever said ever. Feferi, however, seems to think it’s a great idea.

‘That's perfect! We’ll find out and stop everyone from fighting. Two birds with one stone or should I say two fish with one worm!’ She giggles at her own made-up idiom for the phrase.

Sollux mumbles “I don't wanna athk that nutcathe”.

“John, I thought you were so much better than this. We can’t do that or it’ll just ruin the fun of it! The story I thought of this time is such a good one too!”

“Ok nevermind, I change my mind. Athk the freak where the hell the clock came from tho that we don’t die from the thuspense or another one of Vriska’th terrible theorieth”. 

“I thought it was pretty good” She whispers under her breath sourly.   

“Yo, Mr Vanilla Milkthhake!” You hear a thump and an audible. “oof” then a man comes out of the backroom. He seems to be rubbing the back of his head.

“I thought I have told you not to call me by that ‘nickname'... What is it that you need?”

“Whatth with that clock over there?”He nudges his head in the direct of beaten up clock.

“Ah, of course. The clock. I can see you have a good eye for a fine timepiece. Your exemplary taste is certainly owed to a quality upbringing. Perhaps you wish to know the history of the clock, and how I came to possess it? Yes, I can see the sparkle of curiosity in your eye. It's a marvellous tale, one almost as long as it is verbosely told. Where do I even begin…”

The waitress yells from behind the counter “He got it at a yardsale”.

“Wwoww that's fuckin anticlimactic”. The man seems to be annoyed after being interrupted and walks away, accepting that that was all you really needed to hear.

“Seeee? I told you it would take away all the fun!”

“Well it wath better than having to lithen to one of your thupid thorieth, pluth you all owe me money causthe I totally called it”.

“Bluh, whatever. I’m not giving you any money though”. She opens up her phone and gets a panicked look on her face. “Shit, I gotta go, my shift started ten minutes ago. See you losers tomorrow”. She quickly makes her way out of the booth and runs to the door.

“Dude ith it that time already? Man i gotta go too. Come on aa” Sollux grabs aradia’s arm and they make their way out as well. 

“Wwell if evveryone else is leavving, there's no point in stayin. See you guys later.” You all leave out the door and say your separate goodbyes. You don't really feel like going home just yet so you decide to explore downtown instead. You end up passing by many shops and get to a large park filled with trees and other greenery. Many of the plants seem to be thriving, even through the sweltering heat. You find the blue flowers to be really pretty. That sounded gay as hell.

==> Be Dave

Boring. That's the word you’d use for spending everyday by yourself in a bare ass apartment all the time. You’re feeling bored as shit.  So bored as shit you think you might actually go outside for once in a god damn lifetime. You grab your camera and lock the door on your way out. You wait awkwardly in the elevator with a large sweaty man who seems to be dabbing himself with a towel. You don't think even a normal person sweats that much when they work out. He breathes heavily and you stand there uncomfortably. When the doors eventually open you practically sprint out, desperate to get away from his musty stench. After walking for a while you spot the usual place and end up sat on a bench surrounded by trees. The park is perfectly lit up by the afternoon sun. _Better take some pictures before it gets dark_ .You take a few shots of the wildlife and of people around you, although none of them really look that great. You put the polaroid pictures in your bag and look for a better subject to capture. As you wander around the park you come across a perfect subject. The wind appears to flow around him and the backdrop combined with lighting captures a good composition. After taking the photo you notice the familiar face. Black messy hair and buckteeth showing through his dorky smile. You still haven’t got his name. You have his glasses though… You should really give those back. Tucking the polaroid picture into your back pocket, you slowly stroll over to him. _Act cool_ . “Hey, so um.. I just saw you and I thought maybe I should give you back your glasses? You dropped them when you… you know”. You scan his face looking for any sign of recognition. _Shit did that sound weird? He probably thinks you're weird now. ShitShitShit._ He shoots up suddenly realising that you were talking to him.

“Oh really? I was wondering where they went. Thanks um… do you have them with you?” He cocks his head in a questioning manner.  

“Yeah, i think so?” You start looking through your bag but struggle to find anything resembling glasses. _Oh no. They're not here._ You must have left them at home. He continues to look at you expectantly. _Shit this is really awkward._ _Strider abort mission. Abort. Fuck_. “Uh, actually i think i might have left them at my house. I can get them for you if you want, unless you're doing something. Then I guess I can give them to you at school?” _Oh god why did you even approach him. You should have thought this shit out._

“Nah, I don't really have anything to do right now so I guess i’ll take you up on that offer? Unless you're a serial killer, than whelp.” He chuckles nervously.

“Well my house is just around the corner sooo… yeah” You gesture for him to follow you and walk in the direction of your house.

To try and make it less awkward he attempts to initiate a conversation. “Um.. my names John, what’s yours?”

“Dave.” _Quick and sharp is not the way to friendship._ You seriously need to work on your social skills and actually ask questions. _Go on. Ask him something_. He saves you the trouble.

“So Dave, what do you do for fun around here?” _Seriously? Ok then, you guess._

“Not that much to be honest. I like to take pictures? I’m not the type to really do that much shit outside”.  _God he was asking what normal people do around here. He doesn't actually care about what you do, just shut up already._

“Pictures? That's so cool! Can I see some?”

“Sure.” After you get inside the elevator, you bend over and open up your bag. The polaroid from your back pocket flies onto the ground right side up. 

“Whats this?” He goes to pick it up. Shit. That's the picture of him. He’ll find you super creepy if he finds out you took a picture of him without him knowing. You scramble to pick it up and snatch it off the floor before him, stuffing it into your bag. He pauses, questioning your sudden movements. “Uh…” 

“That was a private photo”. Fuck. Hopefully he didn’t see it. 

“Ew, don’t tell me it was of you nude or something.” He lets out a small giggle. “I’d find that pretty weird if you just carried around random nudes. No offense.” At least now you know he didn’t see it. 

“God no, that would be pretty fucking weird.” you both laugh. 

“What was it then?” 

“Nothing of importance”.

“Pfft, sure it wasn’t” He doesn’t press on the issue and you manage to get to your apartment without accident. You left the house in absolute shit. Its pretty fucking messy. Hopefully he's not a clean freak or something. Whelp can’t help it now.

“I think I might have left it in my bag or something. Wait a sec while i find it.” You nearly trip over the mass of cords lying around the floor while making your way to your room. You’ve never really thought to clean your apartment since you don’t exactly have any friends or guests to clean up for. You pick through your school bag briskly until you come across the thing you were looking for. Making your way back to him you notice a few of the pictures sitting on the bench. _huh i didn’t put them there._ damn, you hope he didn't see the one you took of him, that would be very embarrassing and weird.

He kinda just stands there awkwardly looking around your cluttered apartment.

“found em” you wave his glasses in front of his face.

“Oh, thanks Dave!” he gives a wide grin. He then takes the glasses out of your hands and you both stand there silently.

“Well uh, i better get going,” he gestures towards the door “see ya at school!”.

“Okay then, bye” you stand there awkwardly until you hear your door shut.

_God that was so weird._ He probably thinks you’re really weird. You walk over to your room and slam face-down onto your bed.

  
_Why do you have to be so fucking awkward?_


	2. A Door to Memory Lane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> edit: added pesterchum colours etc for the texts :P

===> Be Dave

The stench of alcohol and the metallic taste that resides in your mouth is overwhelming. You feel like vomiting. He raises his hands once more, going in for another hit. _Move._ You struggle to get out of the way and it barely brushes past the side of your face, pushing you both onto the cold tiled floor. “I never wanted to be left with you fucking brats” his eyes are filled with hostility. “It’s all your fault, you little shit”. He gets up only to kick you in the stomach. You turn your head slightly to see your other brother standing horrified. Suddenly he snaps back into reality and comes running at the monster looming over you. He jumps onto him taking the attention away from you to him. Everything seems to become a blur and darkness surrounds you. You hear knocks and a buzzing sounds filling your ears and suddenly silence.

You wake up, tears blurring your vision. Your heart seems like it might burst out of your chest with how hard it's pounding. God, these recurring nightmares are really pissing you off. You sit up on your bed and grab your phone, grimacing at the bright light it produces. _5:02 am._ Looks like you have to get up in two hours, _no point of going back to bed now._ You feel disgusting and the sweat on your back acts like adhesive sticking your clothing to it. You should probably take a shower.

Pulling the bedcovers off of the rest of your body you stumble out of your bed and walk over to your bathroom. You eventually finish taking off all of your clothes and hop into the shower. The scalding water hits harshly against the scars on your back. Despite being quite old, they still linger. You trace your fingers lightly over the deep marks on your skin, reminders of him. You shudder, you don’t want to think about him right now. Not ever. Instead, you try to distract yourself with other thoughts. Like that guy you met yesterday, john was it? You hope you never see him ever again. He probably thinks you’re really strange. Ugh, you just have to mess up every chance you have at making friends, don’t you? Fuck you, social awkwardness.

~

You can barely keep awake by how exhausted you are and if that isn’t enough it looks like your teacher has decided to start another group project. Doesn’t look like you're gonna get outta this one. You look around nervously for a partner, people nudge at their friends while you sit there freaking the fuck out. Well, you’re not freaking out that much but you're still anxious as fuck. Just as you’re about to talk to the teacher, someone takes the seat next to you. “Hi, Dave! Wanna be partners?” It’s him again. Does he think you’re friends with him now or something? To be totally honest you’re not really sure if you’d be opposed to the idea or not but at least you don’t need to worry about what the fuck you’re gonna do anymore.

“Uh, sure I guess” You try to sound nonchalant like you don't actually give a shit but secretly you’re screaming inside. He seems to buy your facade.

“Cool! I was kinda worried cause I didn’t think I knew anyone in this class but then I saw you. Man this is gonna be sweet. I love science”. You notice that when he smiles his teeth cave over his mouth a little. _He looks like a nerd, oh my god_ . _It's kinda cute, though._ Wait what? Nope. You did not just think that. What were you thinking? not that. Not that at all. Shit. John sits there enthralled by what the teacher is lecturing about. Whatever it is you don't really care too much about it, you’re too busy staring at the dork sitting next to you.   

You figure you should probably talk about the project. “So, uh… how good are you at chemistry?”

“I’m awesome at chemistry” he replies with a smug look on his face.  

“Oh? What happens when an acid and base react?” you challenge him.

“I uh…well…” he looks around the room, obviously knowing nothing about what you're talking about.

You let out a small laugh.“Awesome at chemistry my ass”

“Hey, I doubt you’re any better!”

“I, in fact, am actually pretty good at science, Unlike you. When an acid and base react you get a salt and water by the way”

“Well it's not like I’m ‘horrible’ at it, I just didn't know that one question” he puffs out in frustration.

“I literally gave you the easiest question in the book” you roll your eyes, even though he can't exactly see them. He just pouts at you.

“Okay so I may not be great at it, but I still think it's interesting”.

“Yeah sure. Do you wanna get started or what?”

“Mmyeah okay.”

~

==> Be John

“I don’t see why you guys don’t like Dave” the others look at you in confusion.

“Wait, one thec… where the hell did that come from?” Sollux says, nearly tripping over his untied shoelaces.

“Why, are you bringing this up?” Feferi asks.

“I was just talking to him during science and he actually seems like a - “ Eridan interrupts you.

“You mean to tell me that you ‘actually’ held a conwersation with him?”

“I mean, um yeah,” you rub your neck “he's a pretty cool guy when you get to know him”

“Isn’t he like, mute or something though?” Feferi questions.

“Oh my god” Sollux murmurs.

“I just suspected…” she trails off fumbling with her hands, embarrassed.

“What the hell, no of courthe not. He thtill thpeaks, just not ath often” Sollux shakes his head.

“Evven wwhether he speaks or not he’s still probably a fuckin wweirdo with those dumbass anime shades or wwhatevver. Wwhy does he even wwear those anywway? It wwould be the saddest thing if he actually thought that they wwere cool. wwhat a fuckin wwanker” Eridan taunts.

“Hey! Don’t talk about Dave like that! I’ll admit the shades are just a little bit weird but he’s still pretty cool despite that” you look at Eridan disapprovingly.

“Wwhatever you say. Either wway, just cause you’re all buddy buddy wwith him doesn’t mean I wwanna be all buddy buddy wwith him too” He shrugs. You guess you can’t really force them to be friends with him, but you don't see why they decide to judge dave before they even talk to him.

Looking around, you catch sight of Dave walking outside, alone, holding a brown paper bag. Honestly bringing his own food to school is probably the best idea anyone's ever had. From your firsthand experience of the cafeteria food yesterday, you don't think you’ll be eating until you get home. You shiver at the thought of it. Ew. “Hold on I'm just gonna go do something, don't wait up for me!” Sollux mutters a small “yeah, whatever” as you walk over to dave. He looks so lonely sitting all by himself. He notices your movement and looks up at you surprised.

“Hey, mind if I sit with you?”

“Um, yeah sure” He moves over a little and you sit onto the hard concrete, grimacing slightly at the solidity. The chairs are comfier in the cafeteria but it's too late now, you’ve already decided to act out stage one of your plan. Aka to become friends with “Cool Guy wannabe”. First, you gotta get his guard down, then hit him right in the friendship zone!

“So, Why are you sitting out here all alone?” you ask.

“What’s wrong with being alone?” he inserts his hands into the brown paper bag laying on his lap, taking out a carefully wrapped sandwich.

“I uh, I don’t know. Aren’t you a little lonely?” you know you definitely wouldn’t stand being all by yourself, why be alone when you can be with friends?

“I mean sometimes? But it's not like people are lining up to be my friend. If you hadn’t noticed I'm not exactly liked here” after unwrapping his sandwich he takes a bite out of it.

“Why not?”

“People just don’t like it when people are different from them I guess...,” he mumbles looking away. “Hey, why’d you even come here anyways? Aren’t you gonna sit with the friends you’re always walking around with?” sounds like he’s changing the subject.

“You trying to get rid of me?” you ask jokingly.

He laughs, “no, no it’s just... why do you even care all that much? I mean nobody else does?”

“Why wouldn't I? I mean, you seem like a pretty nice guy and I’m kinda new here so it’d be cool to make some more friends” you smile at him and suddenly get an idea “Hey, You should hang out with us in the cafeteria sometime!” If he does, then your friends could be his friends and then he wouldn’t have to sit all by himself all the time!

“Ehh, I don’t know…” he scratches his neck.

“Oh come on, it would be fun!” you encourage.

“Dude, do you see how they look at me? Fun my ass, they hate me”

“They just need to give you a chance! They just haven’t been able to get to know you, I’m sure they’ll see how cool you are after that”

“Yeah, okay. I guess” he sighs.

“Cool ...Oh by the way, Do you have a phone?”

“Yeah?”

“I just figured we’d probably need some way to contact each other other than at school. You know, for the project.” You take your phone out of your pocket and he does the same.

 

After talking to Dave for a while you decide to seek out Karkat. You still haven't been able to see what his friends are like yet. You walk around the cafeteria and it’s not too long until you hear the loud yelling that could come from none other than Karkat.When you spot him you realise he's on the complete opposite side of the cafeteria. You ignore your friends waving to you and walk over to Karkat and his group.

“Hey Karkat!” He looks up to you and his face goes from slight annoyance and confusion to utter disgust.

“Oh, It’s you. I thought I told you to stay the fuck away from me and not talk to me at school” he growls through his teeth.

“Who’s this Karkles?” a girl questions from behind him.

“Don’t worry, he was just leaving” he replies angrily.

“But I just came here” you pout sarcastically.

“Ugh, What the fuck do you want?” he rolls his eyes and folds his arms.

“Introduce me to your friends!”

“If I do this will you leave me alone?”

“I can’t promise it”

“...Close enough,” he sighs and points at a girl with a pair of tacky bright red glasses and a wide grin spread across her face and then at a boy with hair that looks like it hasn’t been brushed in days “This is Terezi. Terezi Meet John. Now you’ve been acquainted, the one staring off into space like a goddamn dumbass is Gamzee. Don’t bother saying hi to him, he never even listens to me half the time”

You extend your hand out to Terezi for a handshake and she laughs.

“Why would you make a blind girl shake your hand?” she jeers.

Karkat facepalms.

“Oh, uh sorry! I didn’t know!” god, that was embarrassing. How were you to know she was blind? Although, If she was blind how’d she know you even know you held out your hand out for a handshake in the first place?

“Apology accepted” she says, clearly amused.

“Anyways,” Karkat continues and points towards two other people that you hadn’t noticed before, they are both engrossed in a conversation about … My little pony? However despite their looks it seems like the guy is more interested in the subject than the girl is. “The girl in the anime getup is Nepeta and that sweaty guy over there next to her is Equius”

Your eyes widen at the sight of Equius. He looks like a twenty year old pro-wrestler. How old even is he?

Karkat ignores your bewildered staring “Can you leave now?”

You frown at him.

“Come on Karkles what’s the harm in him staying?” Terezi lays her hand on Karkat's shoulder and his face goes bright red. Hmm? you’ll have to ask him about that later.

“...fine” He grumbles after a minute or so.

Frankly everyone else kind of freaks you out so you decide to start a conversation with Terezi.

“So you got any embarrassing scoop on Karkat?”

“Do i ever” She chuckles. This is gonna be good.

Karkat screeches. “Nope, gonna stop you right there. I am not gonna let you go any further than that. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.”

“Oh Karkles, you’re no fun” she sniggers booping karkat on the nose.

Karkat makes a face and turns his head away.

“What are you in relations to Karkat, anyways?” Terezi turns her head to you intrigued.

“Oh um, I’m staying at his house because of certain… circumstances. His parents are my godparents”

“What circumstances?” she questions. You really don’t want to answer that.

“Oh, it’s looks like it’s your time to leave John! Goodbye!” he pushes you away from the group, clearly understanding how uncomfortable you felt about answering the question she asked. You’re kind of thankful for Karkat's insistent nagging but also a little disappointed that you couldn’t speak to his friends more.

~

==> Be Dave

You open the lock on the first door into the apartment building it automatically locks behind you as you walk in. In the elevator on your way up to your apartment you feel your phone vibrate against the side of your leg. You take it out of your pocket and recognise johns number.

John: hey dave!

You: sup?

John: nothing much, what about you?

You: did you seriously just use the project as an excuse to get my phone number?

John: no...

John: yes

John: maybe

You: smooth

John: hehe i didn’t know if you’d give it to me if i didn’t

You pause momentarily to unlock the door. You close it and lock it behind you then crash onto the couch.

You: wow john are you obsessed with me?

John: haha yep i am supppperrrr obsessed with you

John: im your stalker ;)

You hear the buzzer ring.

You: are you seriously at my door right now?

John: what are you talking about?

You: dont play coy with me now john, you just rang the buzzer

John: but i didnt?

You: who else could it possibly be?

You: hold on let me check it

You look out your window but you can only just barely see a figure in a white shirt and similar shades to your own. Is that Dirk? He wasn't supposed to get back so early. Maybe he came back to surprise you? You press the button to let him in. Normally he calls you around this time so that would explain why he hasn't.

John: who was it?

You:  i think its my brother

You: but he didnt tell me he was coming back

You: dude, he hasn’t been back since my last birthday

John: you have a brother?

You: well yeah, but you wouldnt see him around because hes in college overseas

You: i guess hes here now?

 

Heavy steps then a loud thumping on the door captures your attention.

You get another text but this time its not from john.

 

Dirk: hey, sorry im still in class but ill make sure to call you later

Dirk: hows it going?

 

wait if dirks still in class…. who's at the door?

your heart beats loud like drums in your chest as you look through the peephole.

 

no

 

it

it can't be him

 

Dirk: dave i know you saw my text 

Dirk: arent you gonna answer? 

Dirk: hello?

Dirk: you okay?

 

A built older version of dirk stands outside the door. He talks with a gruff, menacing voice.  “I know you’re there dave, open up. It's been a long time, hasn't it?”

  
That's not dirk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternatively titled "The Big Bad Wolf" lmao


	3. Here Comes the Sun

==> Be Roxy

Your name is Roxy and you’re kind of confused on where you should be right now. What were the directions again? Shit, you hope you’re not lost in this hugeass place. You decided to do some volunteer work at a hospital for extra credit. Despite the fact that you want a good-paying job in the future your grades aren’t looking too good right now. Well since your family is already pretty rich, you guess you could just mooch off of your older sister but you’d rather be self-sufficient. Looking around you realise you’ve already passed the same corridor for the fifth time. At least you think it's the same one, they all look sorta identical to you. The same white walls, tiled floor and floral paintings. Honestly, it all looks hella boringgg, you know you wouldn’t wanna be stuck here. Hospital? More like Inhospitable. _Haha, nice. high five to self._ No wonder they need people to cheer up their patients, this place is frickin depressing. You wander around a little more until you fully decide that you are most definitely lost. How big is this place? Someone taps you on the shoulder. “Excuse me miss, you seem a bit lost. Do you need any help?” turning around you notice a man in a nurse uniform. *le swoon* “Oh uh, yup!” _smooth Rolal, smooth_ “I’m here for volunteer work and I can't really remember where I’m supposed to be. Mind showing me?” you bat your eyelids at him. Thank god, someone who actually knows their way around. That makes one of us. He pays no mind to your advances and very kindly shows you to the cancer ward. Wow, you walked right past that corridor, they should really put up more signs or bigger ones at least. You thank him and decide to get on with it. Now, which room were you assigned to again?

~

          

==> Be Calliope

White. White walls, white floors, white bedding and white ceilings. Only ever accompanied by the faint nuance of blue on the rarest of occasions. You are very much in fact brassed off with the shade. The lack of colour in your surroundings only present to mock your perpetual state in between life and death. Limbo per se. Of course, you don't actually reside in limbo but it sure feels like it. Doctors, nurses and many of the like are constantly trying to persuade you that there is even a chance of you surviving this mess but you have become less and less susceptible to believing them as time has gone by. At first, you were as optimistic as a cancer patient could possibly be, but now you just want for all of this to be over with. You can see how hard your parents work to pay the hospital expenses and it pains you so very much. It doesn't help that your brother is a renowned imbecile and can't help but blame you for the state of your parents. It's not like you asked for this. Quite the opposite in fact. Your life had only just seemed to have become somewhat interesting before all of this. You became friends with John and Jade, two more real life friends than you’ve had in a very long time, as in, the only friends you have had in a long time. Possibly the sudden positive events in your life were simply a small compensation for what was to come. Maybe it was the world's way of saying I'm sorry that your life sucks so undoubtedly, I'll give you at least one second of happiness before I rip it right out of your hands merely a second later.

It’s quite dull here, all by yourself. Your brother never visits, typical of him, and of course your parents never have any time to. You know that if you ever told either John or Jade about any of this, they both would most probably come running to your side. However, you really don’t want to inconvenience them. You know that if you die… when you die...you wouldn’t want either them to have felt sad. It would be best if you just removed yourself from their lives. Even if they think you are a bloody tosser in the process, at least they won't have to deal with any of this.

You stick one of your newly made drawings onto the wall, you feel quite proud of this one. Your supply of blu-tack however, is diminishing. You will have to ask a nurse for some more when they check on you. Drawing is one of the only ways in which you can entertain yourself, other than reading your two favourite books of all time, Complacency of the learned and the first book in the harry potter series. They have inspired you to write a book of your own. Of course, you will never show it to anyone. You would be truly embarrassed if anyone were to read it… you don’t think it’s any good at all. In the future you would have liked to become a well-known author even though it may be have been an impossible aspiration, a girl can only dream. Now you are sure there is absolutely no way of you even being able to publish a book in the very least.

If only...

 

==> Be Roxy

You stop outside room 11 and hesitate in front of the open door. Should you knock orrr? You knock anyways... just in case. A frail voice tells you to come in. You wouldn't have even heard it if not for the absolute silence of the hallway. Once inside the small room you are taken aback, it's hardly as dull as you expected. There are brightly coloured drawings covering almost every wall. Some of the characters depicted you recognise, including the harry potter trio and Zazzerpan the learned, others are of horned figures you haven't seen before. Complacency of the learned and harry potter are two of your favourite franchises. Basically anything pertaining to wizards is your fave to be totally honest. “Are you a new nurse of the sort? Though I guess you are not in any type of uniform so that was a silly assumption. I wasn’t expecting any visitors either. Are you lost perhaps?” The girl questions. A British accent is apparent, so cute.

“Haha, nah. I was before though, this place is freakin huge. I volunteered for this make a friend thingo and I guess I got you. Luckily it looks like we like some of the same stuff, from looking at the drawings on the wall. The drawings are cool as hell by the way.” You notice her cheeks turn a slight shade of pink.

“Do you think so? I doubt my skill set is worth any sort of compliment such as ‘cool as hell’ but thank you” she puts on a small smile.

“Well, I think that it totally deserves being called cool as hell. Cause that’s what it is, cool as motherhecking hell”

“Motherhecking?”

“Haha, yeahhhh. I'm not really sure if I'm like allowed to swear or not around you. Like is that a thing?”

“Well, I don't mind. So if it is I'll make sure not to blow the gaff that you swore in front of a pure, innocent leukaemia patient.”

“Ok that was kinda stupid of me but still don't wanna break any of those weird obscure rules that only the doctors and patients know.” You wink.

“Obviously”

“Anyways… oh yeah, how rude of me! I forgot to tell you my name. It’s Roxy by the way. Yours is?”

“Calliope”

“That's a pretty name, Mind if I call you Callie? Might as well skip the formalities seeing as we’re probs gonna be bffsies by the end of this anyways”

She chuckles “sure”

“So, I see you’re into Complacency of the learned?” the mention of it makes her face light up.

“Yup! It’s pretty much my absolute favourite book series! as is Harry Potter of course”

“Well yeah, who doesn’t like Harry Potter? no one that's who” This makes her laugh. _hell yeah, score for Rolal._

“Of course. You would have to be absolutely bonkers to not like it”

“Finally, someone who actually gets me,” you pause for a moment and look at her vast collection of pictures on the walls “yo, whos those dudes with horns?” you point at one of her drawings.

“Oh, those are just characters from a narrative I'm writing” she fumbles around with her bedsheets. She’s writing a story? you’re intrigued.

“Ohhhh a narrative? can I see?”

“Oh, um... well... it's not very good”

“Nah, you’re just modest. I bet it’s hella awesome. I mean you’re totally wrong about your drawings so id say that you are probably wrong about your writing too’’

“You're quite stubborn aren't you?” she puffs out in frustration. oh my god, she's so adorable.

“Does that mean you’ll show me?”

“I never said that”

“It's not a no”

“It wasn’t a yes either”

“Then it’s a maybe?”

“Perhaps… at a later date”

“Yessssssss” you do a fist bump in the air which is kind of over the top but it produces a laugh from her so you don’t care.

“Don’t be disappointed when you realise that fist bump really was for nothing. It's not anything to be all that excited about. Really.“  

“We’ll just have to see about that” you wink.

“Honestly, we’ve spoken too much about me. What about you? What do like?”

“Well, as I told you before, wizards are the freakin bomb so I like basically much anything to do with them and um, cats are pretty cool? I mean hey, who doesn’t like cats? I guess I’m also kinda into retro gaming and stuff like that. Idk I’m not all that interesting when it comes down to it”

“Did you seriously just say idk aloud rather than I don’t know? you are so strange.” she giggles. “Also I believe that the things you like are very much interesting, pertaining to wizards I too believe that they are ‘the bomb’ and cats are incredibly cute.”

You hold your hand to your chest “umm??? I am hurt by your words Callie, I have a speech impediment that only lets me speak in text language. I can’t believe you would point that out? I thought you were my friend” you dramatically look away and raise your hand to your forehead

“You are so silly. I surely doubt any such speech impediment exists.”

“Whatevs” you poke your tongue out at her playfully. She giggles again but this time instead of sounding sweet it goes rough and turns into a coughing fit. “Hey, are you okay?” You rush closer to her.

“Yes... I'm fine. don't worry, this happens... a lot”

“Are you sure I don't need to call anyone over?” She pauses and her coughing seems to subside for the moment.

“No, no. No need. I’m very much alright now. These fits are quite annoying, though. It's hard enough sleeping without the coughing or trouble breathing.” she speaks with a hoarse voice.

“Can't sleep?”

“No, not really. Pain keeps me awake. It doesn't help me in the physical appeal department, to say the least. The bags under my eyes are absolutely atrocious".

“They add character. In any case, if you really want to, you can message me when your nights get too unbearable. I mean I hardly sleep either. Not cause of any sort of stuff like what you go through, mostly just self-neglect”

“Oh no no, I wouldn't want to keep you up”

“Seriously I don't mind” you give her a reassuring smile.

“Well, if it really is no hassle….”

“Don't worry about it, Callie” the two of you exchange numbers.

“Just text me whenever”

“Alrighty then”

You both just sit in a comfortable silence for a while. “So...What do you wanna be when you grow up?”

“Alive”

“No, I'm serious. When you get outta here. What do you wanna do?”

“In reality, I do believe It's more of an If then a when.”

“Come on Callie you gotta be optimistic. You are going to make it through this”

“I gave up on that thought a long time ago”

“Okay well, what would you do if you did get out of this ‘hypothetically’”

“.....I’d be a writer I guess? Well obviously I’d have to get a lot better to actually become one but, yeah I suppose that Is what I’d be…. What about you?”

“I honestly haven’t given that much thought about it”

“Really?”

“Well, I know I wanna do something that’s high paying or maybe something to do with helping other people? I’m not too sure yet”

“I’m sure you’ll be great at whatever you do” she gives a smile but you can see the genuine sadness that resides in her eyes. You actually truly believe (or at least hope) that she will outlive this. She doesn’t deserve this.

No one deserves this.


	4. The Mess he Made

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy late 413!!

==> Dirk

_Tired. You're Tired. Tired of being stuck in an endless routine of, wake up, school, work and if your shift isn’t too late, sleep. You’re tired of not knowing whether you’re gonna have a roof over your head or enough food to feed yourself, or at least just enough for him. You're probably gonna have to quit going to school soon. You need a full-time job if you're ever gonna sustain something better than the shitty lifestyle you’re currently in. It's shit and his birthday is coming soon. You at least want to make sure it's as good as it can be for him. It's all for him._

_~_

_The sack makes a loud thump as comes into contact with the shelf.Your arms thank you as the weight is relieved, fuck that was heavy. Just a couple left. A chirpy pop song repeats for the gazillionth time on the speakers above. If it plays one more fucking time, you’re considering drowning yourself in one of the storeroom toilets. It was annoying enough the first time it played, now it's just torture. You heft another bag onto the bottom shelf and your vision starts to blur. As you try to stand up you are hit with a sudden feeling of drowsiness. Everything goes dark for a moment. Fuck, not sleeping for three days straight really does a number on you. You're gonna have to call in sick to your next shift._

_~_

_You: Hey dave_

_You: feeling ill_

_You: might come home early today and eat with you_

_You: If you get really hungry there's food in the cupboard as usual_

_You forgot to bring extra money for the bus back so walking home is going to have to do._

==> Be ???

_“Yeah yeah, alright Nanna. Love you too.” You hang up and let your phone drop into your lap, sighing. You sure do like having the house to yourself but it can become quite lonely sometimes without your ol Grandma around. As much as she sends you around the bend, boy howdy do you miss her. You get up and walk lazily over to the kitchen, almost tripping over everything on the way there. Cheese and fucking crackers! You’ve let this fine establishment to become an absolute trash hole. What would your Grandma say if she saw you now? It's time you stop dawdling and actually clean, even though leaving it for later sure does sound tempting. You settle a compromise with yourself that if you clean up a bit now, you can treat yourself to a few movies and do the rest tomorrow. Maybe there might be a few new movies at the store? You reckon you're the only one keeping that place open by the sheer amount of dvds you rent daily. You never were the one to just watch movies online, going to the store just part of the fun._

_You hurriedly pick up bits and bobs off of the floor and trash lying around with the excitement of films on your mind. You’ve always been obsessed with movies since you were but a tiny lad, there was nothing much else to do in this boring little town of yours and it's not like you ever had any friends to hang out with. It’s a bit hard to make them when you don't even know how to communicate with kids your age. You suppose it's probably because you only ever spoke to your nanna and pop which basically moulded your way of speaking to be like theirs so people normally make fun of the way you speak. Hell, you don't need them anyways. Your Nan always told you that the only people that matter is the ones that don't judge you by silly little things like speech._

_You don't mind being alone. Although it would be nice to have someone to talk to, other than your nan. There's only so much you can talk about with her. Sometimes you pretend to be friends with the characters on your posters, but it gets kind of boring talking to a blank wall._

_Ah finally, you’ve managed to clean up somewhat half of the house, leaving out your room (which will indubitably be a difficult task) and a few other parts of the house. You look around the tidy rooms of your lovely abode, satisfied. There, that should be enough cleaning for today._

_Now to rent some movies! You walk out onto the sidewalk and start your journey to the local movie store. The walk there has become quite familiar to you by how much you go there, you could possibly even walk there with your eyes closed if you wanted to. But you're not going to, obviously. You're not a fucking bonehead._

_Out of the corner of your eye, you notice someone who looks a very pale. He looks a bit like he's stumbling. Is he sick or something? Drunk perhaps?You try to stay out of his way, Being a bit cautious as you walk around him. Suddenly, you hear a loud thump behind you. That can’t be good._

_You look around to see the blond figure slumped on the ground. Yikes, that must of hurt! Hmm, Well You can't just leave him there…_

_~_

_You now have a stranger lying on your couch. Good gravy, what have you gotten yourself into? You lightly nudge his shoulder attempting to wake him but you're only met with a snore. Well, you guess your plans of watching movies have pretty much diminished. Darn. You turn his head over to face you. He looks washed out and slightly malnourished, his bones poking out quite prominently. The bags under his eyes looking almost black against his porcelain skin. This guy looks as if he hasn't eaten or slept in weeks. You go to your kitchen and grab a bit of food and water and put it on the table in front of him in case he wakes up. Your nanna taught you to help those in need. Hopefully, he doesn't have a concussion from falling on the sidewalk too hard._

==> Dirk: Wake up

_“hnng” You wake up with a large headache and pain all over your body. What the hell happened? The last thing you remember is walking home from your last job. You shift over and open your eyes. What the fuck. Your eyes dart around the room. You notice from the open blinds that it's now dark outside. Where the fuck am I? Your eyes land of a sleeping boy with extremely messy black hair and nerdy glasses hanging off of his ears. You scramble to your feet. What the hell. After calming yourself and absorbing your surroundings, you try to cautiously tiptoe towards the opening in the room. “Oh,” You hear a voice behind you “You're awake” Shit, he heard you. You turn towards the voice, looking partially scared and confused like a goddamn deer staring into a set of headlights. “Phooey! I’m sorry, you must be wondering where you are. Pardon my manners, I was outside walking along yesterday when you suddenly collapsed onto the concrete in right front of me. I figured it would be cruel to leave you out on the sidewalk so I brought you back to my house.You also wouldn’t budge when I tried to wake you. I hope you don't mind me taking you here”. He fidgets a little. “So, uh, do you want something to eat or maybe a ride home?”_

_“Sure”_

_~_

_You open your crappy apartment to find a fast asleep Dave on the couch, a phone clutched in his hand as if it depended on his life. You take the dishes he left on the floor and put them in the sink. You then walk over to Dave and pick him up, carefully making sure you don't wake him and lay him in his bed, tucking him into his sheets. He must have waited for you to come home. You yawn. Even though you slept for ages at that guy's house, you're still tired as fuck._

==>  John: Console dave

What? Dave doesn't need consoling? You were just talking to him, he seemed quite happy in fact. His brother is visiting him after what seems to have been a long time? That's mostly what you got from your short-lived conversation with him. Either way that is a weird thought you had, almost as if someone was inputting random ideas into your head or something. You laugh at the thought of it.

Huh, Dave hasn’t responded in a while. You wonder what he's up to.

==> Be Dave

Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit. What the fuck is he doing here?

You frantically jump away from the door almost knocking into the wall.

“Dave, open up”

How the fuck did he find you? you thought you got rid of him years ago….

You dart to your windows and close the blinds, desperately trying to be unseen.

Holding your phone with a deathly grip, you try to be as quiet as you can, bolting into your room locking it behind you for extra measures. You still don’t feel safe but safer than before. Fuck. Why did he have to come back? There is no way in hell you are going to be able to get in and out of your apartment without him seeing you. You try to regulate your breathing but it is no use, you can’t stop hyperventilating. Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckwhatthefuckishappening. Your body slides down the door onto the carpet your hands shaking hysterically. You didn’t sign up for this. You press the home button on your phone and billions of notifications fill up your screen like the breaking of a dam. The beaver fucked up and didn't quite build that shit right. Now the waters bursting out and there's nothing they can do but watch it all crumble down. Bro’s knocks get louder until it sounds like he's going to break down the door. Fuck. You need to text Dirk. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuckkk.

You: fuck

You: dirk

You: he’s here

You: he’s back

You: shit

You: shit

You: fuck

Dirk: hey calm down

Dirk: what are you talking about?

Dirk: who’s here?

You: bro’s here

You: bro is in the fucking building

You: he’s outside my door

Dirk: why the fuck did you let him in?

You: fuck i dunno

You: i thought it was you

Dirk: did you let him in the apartment?

You: no

Dirk: okay good

Dirk: just

Dirk: uh

Dirk: keep calm

You: how do you expect me to keep calm?

You: hes right outside of my fucking door

Dirk: do you have anywhere else to stay?

Dirk: like a friends house?

Dirk: i dont know

You: uh

Dirk: didnt you tell me you had a shit load of friends? stay with one of them while i work this out

Dirk: somewhere you'll be safe and away from him

Shit. You knew this would come and bite you in the ass. You thought by telling him that you were popular at school he would stop having to worry about you, but it's only been causing you more trouble than it was worth. Thinkthinkthink. Wait...oh crap.

You: yeah i know someone

  
You’re going to have to ask John a huge favour.


	5. Denial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry for not posting in ages op, for some reason i can only manage to update when i go on road trips lmao

==> Dave: Fall Asleep

 

 _You don't go to school today. Too risky. Bro left some pretty big ones. Someone will see. They’ll take him away from you. You wouldn't want that, would you? He's your brother after all. You cough and tell him you're sick, to call the school. From seeing just the back of his head you can't tell if he heard you or not. You leave anyways. Back to bed. Back to bed. Need to rest. Need to heal. Then back to school tomorrow. Hopefully, the bruises will be less noticeable. Just don't do anything to set him off today and you'll be fine. It's not his fault he was angry. All yours. All yours. Please, Dirk, come home soon. He's been angrier since he left. He left you. He said he would be back. He isn't coming back. At least your bros still here. Even if he's angry, he's still here for you. He cares about you, he just worries too much. He only hurts you to make you stronger._ That's not true. Your eyes flick open and you jolt upwards. Taking heavy breaths, you feel your back lying stiffly against the door. Is he still here? Did he leave? Your breaths become faster, hitched, you can't breathe. The world feels like it's crumpled. It's crumpling around you. Your body a piece of paper, his hands squashing and moulding it effortlessly into an uneven ball. Stop it. You need to breathe. It’s all wrong. Everything is wrong. It’s all crumpled. You need to breathe. You attempt to take slower breaths and stumble into the bathroom, stare into the mirror and see a shaking mess. You are alright. He's not here. Breathe. You try wetting your face, like you see people do in movies but it doesn't do much. Why do they do that shit anyways? You try breathing slower, stare at the flowing water. Calm yourself.

 

You take slow ragged breaths in and out, nose then mouth. You used to get like this a lot before, Dirk used to help you, told you to breath slower, him being there helped. It never happened much, but you never realised how much worse it could get without him there. You really miss him. You feel stupid and embarrassed to admit it but you kind of regret telling him to go. You thought you could do it, you’d be fine by yourself, but you're scared, you're a mess and you're all alone.

 

==> Be John

 

You didn't see Dave for almost a whole week since the last time you talked to him. It’s almost time to give in the science project too! He’s so selfish making you do all the work by yourself! Just kidding, you don't really mind. You wonder where he’s been though. You tried texting him too but either his phone is turned off, or he's just plain out ignoring you. It's pretty frustrating if you're gonna be honest. Now that he's here, right in front of you, you don't know what to say. The first thing he asks you, after a whole week of not being at school and ignoring your texts is, “ Do you think I could stay at yours for a while?”. You mean, you're sure that it would be fine, but it's so sudden you don't know how to respond.  “Uh, I know it's unexpected and you hardly know me, I mean we only met a couple weeks ago but... I really need you to do me this solid man” he stares intently, desperate and begging.

“Shit dude, not the puppy dog eyes! You know I can't say no to them. Not fair.” You snort. “Yeah, of course. I won't ask why and you can do me a favour later in return then too.” You guess he might have had a fight with his brother? Either way, it doesn't matter. Its seems like you're flying towards being best friends with this guy. You're on sleepover terms already, that wasn't supposed to be until step seven! Haha just kidding, you were joking about the step plan, that would be hilarious if you actually had one though.

“By the way, I finished the project while you were skipping school so you don't need to worry about it” He quirks an eyebrow and then like being hit in the face by a flyaway ball, turns to sudden realisation.

“Crap, I totally forgot. I really owe you one. When's it due?”

“Tomorrow, we have today's class to work on it though. Wanna see it?”

“Yeah sure”.

 

==> Dave

 

John grabs for his laptop and hastily pushes the on button, it takes forever to load but finally, he passes it over to you. On the screen is a multi coloured PowerPoint monstrosity. Clashing blue and green and the first slide even has a picture of the slimer from the classic, number one hit, Ghostbusters. You struggle to hold a straight face, turning away from him. You burst into muffled laughter. “Holy shit, John”

“Hey, what's so funny?” His face tells you he was genuinely proud of this shit show. When you read the first paragraph, you swear to god you're laughing so hard, Zeus is gonna strike you down from his high throne or whatever. He was watching the game goddamn it. Now he won't be able to hear which team won. Which guy got a red card for tackling that other guy when he was trying to throw the ball in the hoop. You know so little about sports, you're literally just spouting whatever sports lingo that comes into your head. You think you're talking about basketball. Yeah, that's the money. That's a sport. What were you laughing about again?

John nudges your shoulder. “Hey, Dave, why are you laughing?” Oh yeah.

“Just how great this presentation is, you know I'm definitely sure that gravity was discovered by Abraham Lincoln”.

“Huh? It says that? Dude, I just copied this off of Wikipedia.”

“You know that's plagiarism right? Also, you can't just get shit off of Wikipedia, dude they teach you that in primary school.”

“Don't diss Wikipedia Dave, Wikipedia is ‘the shit’”

“Yeah, any site that says that my dude Abraham discovered gravity is definitely a hundred percent trustworthy.”

“Wikipedia will save your ass someday, I swear it”

“Like hell, it will. Even if you didn't get this crap off of your boyfriend Wiki, you could have at least changed it a little.”

“The teachers don't check for that stuff”

“Not sure what school you went to before but they do here, if they see any of that shit then it's auto-fucking-matically zero motherfucking percent. Thems the breaks.”

“Shit, what are we gonna do? It’s due tomorrow”

“Don't worry about it, I’m used to my procrastinating ass leaving it till the night before, we can work on it tonight together. You did say I could stay over, right?”

“Haha, yup! Thanks, Dave.”

“Just, no more Wikipedia. Gotta lay off that shit. He isn't doing you any good John, he's an abusive piece of crap and you know it.”

“Sure Dave, sure.”

“First stage is denial John. I’m worried about you. He's not good for you. It’ll all be so much better if you leave him.”

“This is me not listening to you Dave, not listening at all.”

“Denial”

He snorts and rolls his eyes. “Just shut up Dave.”

 

~

 

It was pretty presumptuous of you to bring a bag packed with clothes, you didn't even know if he’d say yes. You were desperate. Either way, you are not going back there until it’s safe. When will it ever be safe? It took all of your will power to make your way out the house this morning. To play it safe, you even took a weird longass route to school. Where you could be sure he wouldn't see you. You’re still jumpy as hell. School felt almost like a safe haven, teachers at every corner to stop him from coming in if he ever tried to. It's hard to leave thinking you might see him or he might see you. When you stumble over to your locker, John is there waiting for you. “Hey Dave, I almost thought you’d never come. You wanted to stay over tonight right? I texted my da-” he stutters. “-I mean mom and she said it was cool. Sorry, even though the place is huge we don't actually have an extra room so you’ll have to stay in mine. That’s fine right?”

“Yeah, sure” You hardly hear a word as you spot a blond headed figure and nearly drop your bag as you take it out of your locker. You end up catching it just before it hits the floor. Squinting, you realise it was just some random person. Crap.

“Hey, are you alright?”

“What?” You move your attention back to John.

“You just seem a little out of it is all”

“Oh, uh yeah. I'm good.”

“Alright then”. John smiles and you follow him outside and all the way to his house, jumping at any person with the slightest similarity to your brother.

 

“Here it is” John stops in front of what looks like a goddamn mansion.

“Holy shit John, you didn't tell me you were a rich son of a bitch. Whats with this decked out fucking pad you got?” You suddenly feel five thousand times more embarrassed about the shitass state of your apartment. Not that it could really look all that better in comparison to this shit. God fucking damn son. Even though you haven't been here before it still sorta strikes you with some weird fucking familiarity, like déjà vu or some shit. Weird.

“Uh, yeah. I was pretty surprised when I saw it myself, to be honest. I still don't  think I'm used to it, to be honest.” He shrugs.

“Yeah, I sure as hell wouldn't. If you haven't lived this way forever, did you parents win the lottery or whatever? I mean, shit dude. Must've gotten a shit tonne.”

“Uh, nah. Rose told me that her mom gave it to her as a present?”

“Well Rose's mom must have a shit tonne of dough.”

“Yeah, probably” He knocks and a voice comes from inside.

“Its open”

“Hey Kanaya”

A tall woman with dark hair walks over to John and leans down to give him a quick hug. Her eyes then meet yours and she lets him go.

“Hello. John, why don't you introduce me to you friend?” Her eyes crinkle and her smile is loving. She almost looks like a model. Is that his sister? Wait no, from the way he interacted with her she seems more like his mom. Then who's Rose?

“This is Dave, didn't you get my text? He's going to stay here for a little bit.”

“Oh yes, nice to meet you, Dave. Sorry, I had forgotten, I had a bit of work to do today. John, can you help me set up a mattress?” He nods. “By the way, Dave there are some cookies on the bench over there, help yourself to them while John and I sort out the room” her voice is regal but warm. She points you to the kitchen and then the two leave upstairs. You awkwardly stand in the kitchen for a moment. A younger boy sits by the bench, covered in crumbs, staring at you.

“Who the hell are you?”

“Well, someone got up on the wrong side of the bed. I’m Dave, John’s friend”

“That fucker has friends? Holy shit I feel bad for you.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Because that dweeb is the saddest, most annoying sack of bleating goat shit this goddamn sad world has to offer.”

“How does goat shit bleat?”

“Oh my fucking god shut up you imbecile and sit the fuck down. Your awkward stance is making me lose brain cells by the second.” You sit on a stool beside him and he pushes the plate of nearly demolished cookies over to you.

“It's Karkat”

“huh?”

“My name obviously. I've decided to be polite and tell you it since you're so goddamn fucking awkward to ask for it otherwise.”

“Sounds pretty stupid, also kind of made up”

“Don't all names sound that way? Dave's not that much better, sounds like some creepy old guy that spys on kids. You fucking creep.” He tries to sound insulting but comes off as flustered instead. You smirk.

“Carcat, it literally sounds like you just shoved two words together, what about Truckdog? sounds about the same to me.”

“It's spelt with two K's you pulsating insipid shitfan.”

“what the fuck is a shitfan” you nearly break your cool facade to laugh in his face, you manage to almost choke on the cookie instead. Who the hell is this kid and why is he so fun to mess with?

“You, you’re the shit fan. You goddamn piece of shit fan fuck.” you snort at that. holy fucking shit dude. “That wasn't supposed to be funny”

You shake your head.“You make zero sense. What was that supposed to be, intimidating? Pretty sure it would be the most impossible thing in the world to be anywhere near intimidating at your height.”

“Don't you fucking take it there” he raises his finger in you face.

“Take it where? I don't think we’ll make it anywhere with those stubby legs of yours ” you shrug and wink. He looks just about ready to pounce on top of you when John strolls into the room.

“Oh, you met Karkat already? Great! now I don't have to introduce you guys. Come on Dave I'll bring your stuff up to room if you want.”

“I'll get it”.

Karkat’s eyes widen at your bag of clothes.

“Wait how long is this fuck stick staying?”

“I thought I was a shit fan?”

“Shut up and answer the question”

“I don't know? Depends on what Dave wants.”

“You’re just letting him stay over like that, without even knowing? holy fuck John you really are the stupidest person I know.”

“I just gotta stay for a little while I work shit out, probably for just a couple days of so” You really hope it’ll only be a couple days. Even though Karkat is fun to annoy, his constant shouting is giving you a headache.

 

~

 

John leads you upstairs while you lug up your bag into his bedroom. Despite his constant protests, he still took the lightest of your two bags (he couldn't even lift the heavier one). After dumping your crap in an empty space in his room you raise your head to see walls littered in a monstrous amount of movie posters and pictures of actors.

Some you recognise to be from a youtube video you watched a while ago. What was it called again? Oh yeah, top ten worst actors of all god damn time. You mean, you haven't watched that many movies that include Matthew McConaughey but even without seeing any of ya boy nick cage you can already tell that he sucks ass from the clips you've seen. John is a fucking nerd if you've ever seen one. The literal fucking definition of one, the last time you checked. Glasses, check. Buckteeth and overbite, double check. Horrible fashion taste, quadruple check. Ghostbusters shirts have never been cool no matter how many hot babes who’ve never seen the movie have worn them. John isn't a hot babe. His mom is though, Ohh. Get fucking roasted you, geek. The only thing Johns missing is smarts, from what you’ve seen in his science class, all play and no studying makes John a dull boy. Wait shit, isn't the other way around? Whatever same thing.

“Dave? You're doing that thing again”

“Huh? What thing?”

“The thing where you stare off into space and you go quiet for agessssssss”

“Uh, Don't worry about it”

Your response makes him roll his eyes.

“Yeah, okay” he grabs his laptop and sits on the bed beckoning you to sit next to him.

“Guess we should start on the science thing before you end up doing that weird staring thing again. You can show me how to do shit without cheating or whatever you called it”

“No Prince Wiki to save you now, we’re doing this the right way.”

John sighs. “Yeah, yeah, got it”.

 

~

 

You've  finally finished the powerpoint but...

“Hmm, something's missing”

“Huh, what is it?”

You highlight the text and scroll over to the fonts.

“Comic Sans, really?”

“It's a masterpiece John, gotta add some of the Strider trademark irony so it’ll be uncanny as shit. It’s gonna be a mostly profesh but then a little sprinkle of shitpost to make it really fuck with people”

“What the fuck Dave”

“I'm an artist”

“If we get marks taken off because of this, it's your fault”.

“If they can't handle my art, they don't deserve it. Besides, we were gonna get shit marks anyways with your shitshow”

“Mine wasn't a shitshow it was professional as hell!”

“Professional my ass, you’d make any janitor cry from how shitty that toilet looking presentation was”

“It's what's on the the inside that counts”

“Dude the inside was even crappier than the outside, and that's quite the fucking feat. All of the info was wrong as shit.”

He pauses. “Can't really argue with that. Whatever, we have to present it tomorrow right? Bluhh, I hate presentations! why can't we just send it to the teacher and be done with it?” He flops down onto the mattress. You shrug and flop next to him. He turns to you. “Hey, Dave?” Your heart skips a beat, weird, you shrug it off.

“Yeah?”

“I know what I said but do you think you wanna talk about what happened?”

huh?

“Why you were gone for like a week and now you're staying here all of a sudden?”

Fuck. You can't tell him.

“...I can't right now. All I can say is that it has something to do with my bro. I’ll tell you the full thing someday”

He goes to open his mouth but is interrupted by a knock on the door. You jump up in a start. Somewhat embarrassed for some reason.

Kanaya pokes her head in. “Just wanted to tell you that dinner was ready.”

John props himself up with an arm “Yeah okay we’ll be down now.”

He jumps up off of the bed and stretches his back then walks towards the door. “You coming?”

“Oh. yeah”.

 

You make your way into the living room and just as you sit down. A knock disturbs the quiet. Kanaya raises her head as she dishes out food onto the plates in front of you. “Karkat will you get that? it's most likely Rose”

“Yeah” he rushes out and after a minute comes in with a woman with light hair and almost the same presence as kanaya standing with regality but underlying motherly nature. The woman walks over to Kanaya and gives her a kiss on the cheek. Holy shit. Lesbian moms. Johns rich and has two moms no fair. All I got was a shitty apartment, a shitty brother and a single cool as fuck brother. Probably checks itself out with John having Karkat there. Still, though, you weren't expecting that, you can't help but stare. It's not that you're homophobic or anything, it's just. You've never seen anyone gay other than your brother. At least no-one so open about it. Even your brother wouldn't tell or say anything to someone without knowing them first but these two are just there being gay as all fuck with a stranger in their house. Alright.


End file.
